Indian fonts must in computers

NEW DELHI: Government today said it was planning to make it mandatory for original equipment manufacturers (OEM) to load fonts of major Indian languages in computers to facilitate language computing.

“After we (government) complete the initiative to distribute fonts in mother tongues freely, we will make it mandatory for OEMs (IBM, HCL etc.) to load these fonts,” Communication and IT Minister Dayanidhi Maran said.

The Minister said the government would complete the exercise of providing fonts in all the 22 major Indian languages in the next six months. and preparations were on to launch Hindi fonts next month. Tamil fonts were launched last month.

Asked if the industry would oppose the decision, Maran said, “I think there should be no reservations from the industry. It makes good business sense to do business in India in Indian languages and it is free. The basic idea is to ensure compatibility”.